[Colorado-Talk] Denver Post Article on RTD's Future

[tkeenan79 at gmail.com]

Here's an article from the Post on a bill that would shake up RTD's
governance structure and do a bunch of other things which may or may not be
good for us. I thought it should be on our radar, at least.

If I'm not supposed to copy and paste articles like this, someone please let
me know. ---

 


Colorado lawmakers have RTD in sights for major overhaul - including big
changes for elected board


SPONSORS SAY BILL, STILL BEING DRAFTED, WOULD IMPROVE LOCAL TRANSIT
COORDINATION AND BOLSTER HOUSING GOALS


 

Colorado lawmakers are drafting legislation that would deliver a sweeping
overhaul of the Regional Transportation District - significantly reshaping
and downsizing the governing board to remove nearly all elected seats while
attempting to align the transit agency's planning with broader housing and
climate initiatives.

As formulated by the legislation's three Democratic sponsors, who represent
suburban areas, the broad outlines of the upcoming bill seek to bolster
local governments' coordination with - and influence over - the metro Denver
agency. The legislators also hope to address RTD's longstanding operator
shortage and to launch the most substantial revamp of RTD's governance
structure since the early 1980s, when Colorado voters converted its board to
all-elected members.

The draft has not yet been finalized, but the sponsors said in an interview
Tuesday that the emerging proposal reflects their desire - shared by Gov.
Jared Polis - to align the state's climate, housing and transportation goals
this year and into the future. But the changes also risk inflaming existing
tensions between Denver and its suburban neighbors over the direction of the
transit system.

The governor and his legislative allies plan to push denser, more strategic
development, cut down on car usage and assuage skeptical local government
officials who worry about the impact of those broader measures.

"We've been having a conversation for two years about how do we increase
density and affordability of housing around transit-oriented corridors, and
working with our local governments," said Sen. Faith Winter of Westminster.
"(Local governments) said, 'That's great, but we don't have reliable
transit.'

"So that leads us to the conversation of: How do we make sure we're getting
reliable transit and increasing transit?"

Winter, along with Reps. William Lindstedt of Broomfield and Meg Froelich of
Englewood, set their sights on seeking change in how RTD operates.

The most eye-catching of their bill concepts is a plan to remake RTD's
board.

RTD now is governed by a 15-person board whose members are elected to
four-year terms from geographic districts touching eight counties. According
to a conceptual outline of the bill distributed by the sponsors last week,
they are considering proposing that the board be cut down to seven members -
all but one of them appointed.

According to that document:

Three members would be appointed directly by the governor to represent a
transit rider from a "disproportionately impacted community"; a budgeting or
public financing expert; and an expert in either transportation planning,
development or electrification.

One member would be the head of the Colorado Department of Transportation or
a designee.

The Denver Regional Council of Governments would choose two members from
across the region - one of them a mayor or city council member, the other a
county commissioner.

Voters within RTD's boundaries would select the seventh member in an
at-large election.

Froelich said the composition of RTD's board was still being discussed but
that there would be a mix of appointed and elected members in the bill.

She and the other legislators said they wanted the board to be
"professionalized" like the panels that oversee similar transit boards
elsewhere across the country - most of which, save for a handful, are
appointed, not elected. The sponsors noted that in the 2022 election, four
current RTD members were elected as write-in candidates because nobody
qualified for the ballot.

Lindstedt said the board should "reflect the region and have the skill sets
to be able to manage such a large mass transit agency in a professional
manner."

Some worry board revamp would disenfranchise riders

Several directors on RTD's board did not respond to messages or declined to
comment Tuesday. Board chair Erik Davidson said he had been told that the
concepts in the bill outline weren't final, and he didn't want to comment
because the measure was still being drafted.

Debra A. Johnson, the agency's CEO and general manager, echoed that
sentiment in a separate statement.

Board Director JoyAnn Ruscha, stressing that she was speaking only for
herself, said the potential board overhaul "effectively disenfranchises
people of color and our transit-dependent riders." Local taxpayers fund and
ride RTD, she said, and they should be directly represented on the board.

"I have no shame in the fact that I don't have an advanced degree, or that
I'm not a transportation planner, or that I didn't get an MBA," said Ruscha,
whose District B includes northeast Denver and northern Aurora. "My family
lived and died by the bus."

RTD, formed in 1969, had an appointed board for more than a decade. In 1980,
a bipartisan group of state lawmakers and activists spearheaded a statewide
voter initiative to convert the board to all-elected members. The campaign,
called "Citizens for an Accountable RTD," passed by a margin of more than
100,000 votes.

Since then, legislators have broached the idea of adding appointed members
or changing the board, but none of those efforts were successful. Among
common criticisms of the elected model is that it pits regional interests
against each other.

Besides the board changes, this year's budding measure also would direct RTD
to coordinate its planning with the Denver Regional Council of Governments,
a planning organization bringing together representatives from metro-area
municipalities and counties.

The objective is to ensure that RTD's fixed routes align with local
governments' density and transit-oriented development objectives.

Froelich characterized the goal as "increased synergy" for work on a range
of issues, including transit-oriented communities and development, meeting
greenhouse gas emission targets and solving workforce shortages.

"All of that hinges upon reliable regional service from our transit
agencies," she said. "And the reason that we flow into the governance
questions is (that) we want to set up a government system that gives us our
best shot at that."

An RTD commuter rail train arrives at Union Station in Denver on Aug. 3,
2022, during a monthlong zero-fare promotion. The Regional Transportation
District charged no fares on all services during August as part of the
state-supported Zero Fare for Better Air initiative, which was repeated for
two months in summer 2023. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

The plan comes as two intertwining legislative packages begin to wind their
way through the Capitol this year. One - a suite of land-use bills - seeks
to encourage denser and more strategic development in Front Range cities,
with a particular eye toward transit access. The other is a series of
measures intended to bolster access to and use of public transit. That
includes a bill to facilitate the creation of a statewide transit pass.

The ongoing debate in the state Capitol over ways to increase development
along and near transit corridors has helped shape the RTD overhaul now being
contemplated.

Last year, local governments opposed Polis' sweeping land-use reforms almost
uniformly, largely because of local control concerns but also over
criticisms about the access and reliability of public transit."

Lindstedt said the bill would seek to provide the type of increased
accountability that local governments "so desperately ask for over the mass
transit system that they rely on when they're making those land-use
decisions."

The bill also would aim to address RTD's operator shortage - vacancy rates
were at 15% for bus drivers and 18% for light-rail train operators as of
November - by embracing an existing CDOT program that trains vehicle
operators.

It would also propose changes to how the agency interprets Title VI, a
provision of the federal Civil Rights Act that protects people and
underserved communities from discrimination in federally funded programs,
including transit. Winter said the intent was to ensure RTD can provide
transportation for special events or for specific populations without being
viewed as violating Title VI. Examples of potential special services cited
in the outline include Denver Broncos games - similar to the large-scale
BroncosRide shuttle service that RTD used to offer but discontinued - and
big concerts.

Broomfield mayor: "We have no control" over RTD service

The legislators said an overarching goal is to improve coordination and
accountability between RTD and local governments.

Broomfield Mayor Guyleen Castriotta said Tuesday that her city and other
north metro municipalities were fed up with paying money into RTD and
getting little service in exchange. RTD's post-pandemic service restorations
have favored routes with higher demand and ridership, which often are in or
near Denver, over geographic coverage.

Broomfield pays $17 million annually to RTD but only has one bus line - the
Flatiron Flyer - that stops in the city. (RTD also provides point-to-point
FlexRide service in much of the city.)

"We're forced to pay the same amount every year, but we have no control over
what kind of service RTD decides to give us," she said.

The greatest lament in northwest communities - a complaint voiced often by
Polis and some other officials - is RTD's failure, due to insufficient
funding, to build out the full B-Line commuter rail train to Boulder and
Longmont as promised.

Polis previewed his desires for RTD reform in his January State of the State
address, in which he said that state leaders "must reexamine governance and
operational efficiencies" at the agency while improving local partnerships
and transit-oriented development.

Ruscha, the RTD board member, expressed concern with the bill's overall
intent, including any proposed changes to how RTD interprets Title VI. She
said the board already coordinated with the council of governments.

"I do not think that this bill concept is going to address the pain points
that people have with RTD, as I can see it," she said, relying on the
conceptual outline.

 

Chris Nicholson, a regular rider of RTD buses and trains, is a candidate for
RTD's District A board seat in the November election to represent areas
including central and east Denver. He said he did not disagree that RTD
needed updates to how it operates.

But he questioned why everything should be addressed in one big bill and how
a requirement that RTD coordinate on service plans with the council of
governments would make it more nimble. He questioned how the sponsors did
their homework, noting that a presentation provided to interested parties
never mentions riders - beyond the criteria for one of the governor's
appointees - disabilities, people of color or people with low incomes.

"This has not been the kind of process that has centered people who really
matter in this conversation," Nicholson said. "Those people are not the
governor or the people in the legislature."

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